


Lola

by Thunderhel



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Get Together, M/M, Original Female Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 20:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8938591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunderhel/pseuds/Thunderhel
Summary: Nursey had always liked the idea of love at first sight. Until he had to watch it happen to Dex.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whimsicalimages](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsicalimages/gifts).



> Sorry this is two days late for the Swawesome Santa exchange! I hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> Edited by the lovely [Marcia.](http://anlittlegay.tumblr.com/)

**Larissa Duan:** The day has finally come  
 **Pacer Wicks:** Rans and Holtz are Official  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** They’re cancelling Scrubs  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** Bitty finally ran out of new pie recipes   
**Eric R. Bittle:** Don’t joke about that.  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** Scrubs ended in 2010 and Ransom and I got married in ‘11  
 **B. Knight:** What the fuck why wasn’t I invited  
 **William J. Poindexter:** I would actually believe that happened.  
 **Larissa Duan:** Why do I even try to talk in this chat  
 **Justin Oluransi:** Man is a species of perseverance 

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

It was November 5th, a mild Thursday afternoon, when Dex had a meltdown in the Haus kitchen. 

Which in itself wasn’t really all that unusual of an occurrence, given the frequency and general severity of William Poindexter’s grand displays of anxiety, but the date stuck in Nursey’s mind long after the fact. It would only be much later that he would recognize the moment for the monumental catalyst that it was. At the time of the incident, he was shoving lemon bars into his mouth at an alarming speed. 

He wished he could say that there was some sort of irony or surprise in that, but honestly it all fit rather well in the mess he called his life. So Derek Nurse had found himself choking on crumbs, with Chowder smacking his back and Bitty shaking his head as Lardo and Dex had discussed the matter of Nursey’s untimely end not five feet away. 

Nursey hadn’t been worried at the time, had naively assumed the situation would work itself out in the end. Lardo’s impending departure was a hard pill to swallow, but one he wouldn’t have to choke down until well into the next semester, so he simply chose not to until it was forced down his throat. 

Nursey was correct, depending on how the situation was approached. Because it was at the beginning of spring semester that Lardo announced to the team that she had discovered her replacement. Skepticism was high and morale low as Lardo assured everyone that the top candidate for the job was more than capable, a freshman Virginia native, majoring in linguistics with a promising future in flip cup. 

“But can she manage a team?” Dex had demanded, arms crossed and eyes narrowed. 

“No, Dex,” Nursey told him evenly. “She purposefully picked someone she felt was completely unqualified for the job, just to see you turn that pretty shade of red.” 

Lardo and Chowder had dissolved into laughter as Dex did indeed turn that very lovely shade of red, and no one had asked any more questions. 

“She’ll be great.” Nursey had said the day they met her, waiting in the kitchen as Bitty stressed baked at least his third batch of cookies of the day. 

“Yeah, if Lardo vouches for her, I’m sure she’ll be awesome!” Chowder assured them both. His eyes were wide, and earnest, and very purposefully locked on the door. 

“Okay, I have chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, white macadamia, snickerdoodle, and oatmeal,” Bitty announced to the room, but Nursey guessed he was saying it more to himself than anyone. “That should about cover it.” 

“What if she likes peanut butter?” Nursey asked, trying to keep a straight face as Dex elbowed him in the side. 

“Oh, dear Lord! I forgot peanut butter!” 

“I’m just kidding, Bits, she’s gonna love it.” 

“If the range of cookies offered to her are what makes or breaks this, I don’t think she should really be our manager.”

“You’re going to be nice to her, right Dex?” Chowder’s sincerity cut through whatever Bitty had been about the fire back, and for a moment all eyes turned to Dex. Though Nursey wouldn’t admit it out loud, Dex was probably his closest friend at Samwell. That fact hadn’t meant for an instant he had forgotten how grating Dex had been when they had first met. He also wasn’t so far gone in their friendship that he couldn’t recognize that Dex really hadn’t gotten much better, Nursey had just grown fond of everything he had originally hated. 

Dex was an acquired taste, and Nursey didn’t even know their new manager but he felt sorry for the poor girl. She wasn’t going to have an easy time. 

Meanwhile, Dex seemed to tense up, like he was insulted by the notion that he might come across as rude to the girl he had been scrutinizing without any prior knowledge all week. 

“I’m always nice,” he snapped, and Chowder’s faux smile dropped. 

Nursey stole a cookie off the tray. “Yeah, your sunny disposition is what you’re famous for.” 

“ _Boys_ ,” Bitty snapped before Dex could retort. 

When the door opened, Chowder was on his feet and across the room in a heartbeat. Nursey was reminded of an excited puppy, waiting for visitors at the door, but his thoughts of Chowder fell to the wayside as he caught sight of her standing next to Lardo

She was almost as tall as Chowder, and he might have mistaken her for slight if he couldn’t see the muscle in her arms when she slipped her coat off. Her dark hair was in a tight and complicated braid and it looked like a streak of it might have been dyed blonde, or maybe it was some brighter color that had faded out. Her skin was a smooth and even russet, broken only by a splattering of dark beauty marks across her neck. 

Chowder was crowding her in, bombarding her with questions, though to her credit she didn’t seem phased. Her eyes and her smile were both bright and wide, and there was something about her that made it hard to look away. When she shifted her attention to him, Nursey felt that same lurking level of indefinable danger he had when he had first met Lardo. 

Nursey liked her already. 

“You must be Nursey and Dex.” When she pointed at him, Nursey could see the chipping gold polish on her nails. “I’ve been warned about you,” she assured, her grin somehow even wider and eyes narrowing. “I’m Lola,” she introduced. 

“Nice to meet you,” Nursey told her, accepting the hand she offered. As she took Dex’s in the same way, Nursey debated what cliché question would be best to propose in the moment. Before he could decide on asking if she wore yellow feathers in her hair, or if she frequently drank cherry cola, he shot a glance at Dex and suddenly felt like he had missed the last step on the stairs. 

“Welcome to the team,” Dex told her, his worry lines gone and the gentlest smile Nursey had ever seen on his face. 

Lola raised her eyebrows, holding onto his hand for what Nursey thought was a beat too long, before letting go and tilting her head. “Thank you! I was told you might give me some problems.” 

Dex laughed, a light breath of a sound that Nursey couldn’t ever remember hearing him make and shook his head. There was a dusting of pink clouding over his cheekbones and creeping up his ears. “No, no, I’m sure you’re gonna do a great job.” 

Lola beamed like he had given her the sky, before it faded back into that predatory smirk. “Oh, I know I am.” 

“I like the confidence,” Bitty cut in, brandishing a plate of cookies in front of him. “And also, I didn’t know what your favorite cookie was, or if you’re allergic to anything, so I washed everything in-between batches and kept everything sealed, but if there’s anything else you need-“ 

Nursey stopped listening somewhere in the middle of Bitty’s tirade, eyes shifting back to the side to watch Dex. At first Dex didn’t notice his staring, but Nursey doubted he would have noticed if a bomb went off for how laser focused he now seemed on their new manager. There wasn’t anything odd about Dex in that moment, nothing really substantial enough for Bitty or Lardo or Lola to take notice off. He was standing straight, hands at his sides and face carefully blank as he listened to Lola speak. 

It wasn’t anything to take note of, but Nursey had already written an essay in his head. 

Lola said something, it sounded far off and muffled through a bite of cookie in her mouth and Nursey didn’t catch the joke, but Bitty and Chowder laughed. Dex didn’t laugh, but the smile that broke across his face was soft and fond and Nursey couldn’t breath. When Dex shifted he met Nursey’s eye and his smile dropped in an instant. That familiar flare of red darkened his cheeks and ears and he quickly glanced away. 

When he passed Nursey, Dex knocked their shoulders together purposefully. Like they were brothers. “Shut up,” he hissed under his breath, just quiet enough that only Nursey could hear. Just quiet enough that Nursey knew he wasn’t wrong. 

Nursey had always believed in hypotheticals. Love at first sight had been no exception. It wasn’t something he himself had never experienced but he had always assumed that one day he would, that butterflies would assault his stomach and his world would turn sideways when he first looked at someone

Watching it happen to Dex, however, made him want to throw up. 

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**Chris Chow:** She’s amazing!!!1 She’s gonna be a great manager  
 **Chris Chow:** Not as good as Lardo of course though  
 **Larissa Duan:** do you think I’m not a good enough teacher  
 **Chris Chow:** THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT NOO  
 **Pacer Wicks:** Sick burn Chowder  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** fucking SCHOOLED Lardo  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** I cannot BELIEVE you would drag her like that  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** Chowder you gotta roll it back  
 **Justin Oluransi:** Yeah dude I think she’s gonna cry  
 **Chris Chow:** NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LARDO IM SO SORRY  
 **Larissa Duan:** :,(  
 **Chris Chow:** D:   
**Eric R. Bittle:** y’all.

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

Lardo had described Lola as ‘competent’ which in the world of Lardo was high praise, but Nursey felt that even by Lardo’s skewed scale of praise it was lacking. Lola was a Force onto herself and Nursey was sure that if she were ever cut her blood would run gold. 

Lardo was still their manager through June, but Lola was never far behind, learning everything she needed to take over the following year. Nursey still liked her, it seemed almost impossible not to really, even if he was in the middle of his own internal battle about it. 

It wasn’t like Nursey didn’t know he was attracted to men. That wasn’t a new development. Actually it was relatively new, but he had about two years to handle that situation. Coming to Samwell had been a conscious choice for more than just their excellent hockey program after all. In the entire time he had been at Samwell though, he had only been on two dates with guys. There were always so many interesting girls and no men had ever felt right to him. A feeling within itself that hadn’t felt right, because there were so many good men at Samwell. He knew half the English department alone wouldn’t say no to him if he asked to grab a cup of coffee or dinner, but for some reason he had held back. 

A large portion of the problem felt like high school all over again, as he began to put the pieces in place. All the denials and uncertainties and scrutinizing all suddenly giving way to one horrible realization that left him sitting on an ice cold bench in the middle of the quad, unable to move as the cold burned his lungs and a laughing couple rushed past. 

None of the other guys ever felt right, because he had already decided who he wanted. 

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**Derek M. Nurse:** shes not human. Im not convinced.  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** Yeah she’s like…all shiny   
**Pacer Wicks:** Like a goddess. Shes hard to look at  
 **J. Johnson:** Most people conceived outside of the main narrative tend to come across that way. Especially women. Too short of a time frame to pose them as actual humans so instead they come across otherworldly or monstrous, depending on what’s called for in the situation. Keeping them flat is kind of an unfortunate key element in keeping a side narrative flowing.   
**Justin Oluransi:** bro what  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** How are you STILL in this chat  
 **J. Johnson:** Occasional plot  
 **K. Whiskin:** I don’t think her being flat is the issue here  
 **Chris Chow:** WHISKEY

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

“That’s not even true.”

“It is,” Chowder insisted, looking somehow both earnest and smug. Nursey would never understand how he managed it. 

“That’s disgusting. Who figured that out? How do you discover that?”

“I mean, I’m sure people who study deep sea fish are eventually going to figure out how they reproduce.” 

“Do they all do that or just Angler fish?”

“I read it and immediately called Cait, so I don’t really know.”

“Useless.” 

Nursey pushed open the door to Annie’s, pausing at the rush of hot air that assaulted his face. Behind him he heard Chowder yelp, somehow still unprepared despite going through this routine at least twenty times this semester already. 

“Do you think,” Chowder continued as they shuffled into the line, “that the first person to discover how Angler fish…reproduce, was like traumatized? I’d be traumatized. I feel like no one believed them. A whole council had to be called.”

“I hope so, C. I really do,” Nursey told him sagely, before turning to give his order to the haggard barista. 

Chowder was beside him again in a minute to wait for their drinks, picking up like there hadn’t been a delay. “Okay, but what if-“

“CHOWDER! NURSEY!” 

Chowder, Nursey, and half of Annie’s turned at the sudden shout, all thoughts of Angler fish derailed as Nursey spotted the source of the summons. Lola was on her knees on a chair across the room, waving her arms like she was directing planes, a brilliant grin visible above her purple scarf. Seated across from her, head in his hands in embarrassment, was Dex. 

“LOLA!” Chowder yelled back, every bit as enthusiastic. He almost knocked Nursey over as he grabbed his drink, still managing a ‘thank you’ to the girl handing it to him, and bolted to the table. Nursey collected his own beverage and followed at much more subdued pace. 

By the time Nursey reached his friends, Lola had unfolded herself from her chair, and had slid around to sit next to Dex in the booth, leaving her vacated chair free for Nursey. 

“What are you guys doing here?” 

Nursey was glad Chowder asked. He doubted he would have been able to keep the same tone. 

“I wanted to go over some old plays you guys had, know more about how the team works on the ice, you know?” Lola patted an old blue binder set next to her latte. It looked like multiple people over the years had spilled far more than lattes on it. “I know that’s not really my job, but I feel like knowing you guys is really a part of the job.” When she turned to look at Dex her sharp smile softened. “I asked Dex to help me understand some of it.” 

When Dex chirped someone it was with his head high and face straight. It was part of his routine, with one eyebrow lifted and that arrogant tilt to his head. Sometimes it was almost impossible, telling what was a chirp and what was a real insult with him. But when he picked up his own coffee and said, “she barely fucking knows how the game’s played,” his eyes were downcast and his shoulders hunched. If he had been trying for a straight face he had missed it by a mile, his smile small and fond even as he tried to hide it behind his cup. 

Lola lashed out with the back of her hand, catching him lightly in the shoulder as he laughed. “I know how to play hockey! Well, I know how you guys play hockey.” She grinned back at Chowder and Nursey. “Don’t listen to him.”

“No one does.” Chowder shrugged, dodging the balled up napkin Dex hurled at him. 

When Lola let her arm fall back on the table her elbow brushed Dex’s. 

An irrefutable fact about Dex was that he did not like human contact. 

He did not move his arm. 

Nursey took another sip as he felt the room start to spin. 

“You two match, you know?” Chowder pushed, leaning forward on his elbows as he stared at the pair across the table. 

Dex narrowed his eyes as Lola raised her eyebrows. 

“Your spots,” he continued, on the verge of giggling, like it was some great joke. 

Nursey caught on before either of them did, catching himself just before an eye roll. Lola was next, reaching up and running her fingers along the stretch of spotted birthmarks running the length of her neck. For a beat, Nursey was worried she was offended, self-conscious about the marks, but she laughed, turning back to Dex. 

“My birthmarks and your freckles,” she clarified. 

Dex didn’t hide his eye roll. “Jesus, Chowder.” 

“No, it’s fine,” Lola assured him with a wave of her hand. “If Will and I ever had kids they would be straight up leopards.” 

Chowder erupted in laughs as Dex choked on his coffee, face going scarlet. He turned away, coughing into his sleeve as Lola patted his shoulder in sympathy. 

“Ah, sorry guys, my mom’s calling.” Nursey stood up so fast he almost knocked over his chair. He would have, actually, had Chowder not reached out to steady it. No one seemed to notice he wasn’t holding his phone “I gotta take this. I’ll catch you later.” 

A few farewells were thrown his way as he nodded, pulling his phone stealthily from his pocket and putting it to his ear. The line was dead, not even a dial tone as he mumbled a faux greeting. Behind him he heard Chowder laugh again before the doors closed behind him. 

Nursey waited until he was around the corner before putting his phone back in his pocket. 

His mother had always said he was dramatic, and maybe it was time he owned up to that title instead of pretending he wasn’t. Faking a phone call to not have to listen to your best friend flirt with a pretty girl seemed pretty dramatic, after all. Especially considering he hadn’t even realized that would be an issue until two weeks ago. 

It wasn’t like he was in love, anyway. He assured himself again and again as he chugged his coffee a little faster than he would have originally liked. Crushes were just stressful. It was stressful realizing your best friend was attractive. It was stressful realizing someone else might think so too. 

Dex had only known Lola less than a month, and she was going to work with them. There was no way anything could happen so fast between them away. 

Dramatic, he told himself again. 

If he was being honest with himself, which seemed to be the trend of sophomore year it seemed, then he had to admit what the real problem was. Her joke about having kids wasn’t what was crawling under his skin, not really. 

She had called him ‘Will’. 

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**William J. Poindexter:** leave her alone she’s doing a fine job  
 **Pacer Wicks:** Is that the Dex equivalent of a marriage proposal?   
**Justin Oluransi:** Goddamn Will keep it PG  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** yeah W I L L I A M   
**William J. Poindexter:** I don’t deserve this  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** yea you do  
 **Jack L. Zimmermann:** Is Dex the new Shitty then?   
**Pacer Wicks:** *eh?  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** *eh?  
 **Pacer Wicks:** JINX  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** DON’T STEP ON MY FUCKING MOMENT WICKS  
 **William J. Poindexter:** How am I the new Shitty?  
 **B. Knight:** What. I support it but what.  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** Because you’re gonna bang the new manager  
 **Justin Oluransi:** *try to  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** Fair  
 **B .Knight:** AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
 **Larissa Duan:** :x  
 **William J. Poindexter:** I’m removing myself from this chat  
 **Eric R. Bittle:** I’m removing everyone from this chat.

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

“Where have you been hiding?” 

Nursey almost dropped his coffee at the sound, having previously assumed he was alone on his walk back to his dorm. “Ah, shit man, you scared me.”

“You say that like it’s a hard thing to do,” Dex joked in his own off brand way. The kind that wasn’t really funny except for when Dex said it, you kind of wanted to laugh anyway. Or maybe that was just Nursey. 

He didn’t laugh. Instead he rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his drink as Dex fell in step. 

“God I can smell the sugar from here.”

“Not all of us drink motor oil straight. Some of us are humans with actual taste buds.”

“Whatever you want to call it.” 

“What are you doing this far out?” Nursey asked as they made the main trek past the dining hall. “Isn’t your class in West Hall?” 

“Yeah.”

The sound of their footsteps trudging through the slush that had accumulated on the sidewalk was the only sound for another minute before Nursey sighed. “So what are you doing out here?” 

Beside him he heard Dex shrug more than he saw, the sound of his puffy coat crunching against the straps of his backpack. “I hadn’t seen you in a while.” 

“We had practice this morning.”

There was a beat of silence, and Dex tilted his head, like he was considering something. “That doesn’t count.” 

The rush of heat to Nursey’s face had everything to do with the drink in his hand and nothing to do with the closeness that left their padded sleeves brushing with every step. 

“Okay.”

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**Larissa Duan:** No one bangs the new manager until she has at least a year under her belt  
 **Larissa Duan:** Not that any of you are good enough for her, but still.   
**Jack L. Zimmermann:** Has that always been the rule?   
**Jack L. Zimmermann:** Because I feel like you owe some pie money.  
 **Eric Bittle:** JACK  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
 **Justin Oluransi:** JJJJJAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK   
**Derek M. Nurse:** RHODE ISLAND SAVAGE  
 **William J. Poindexter:** Is Rhode Island Savage very savage at all really   
**Adam J. Birkholtz:** OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
 **Justin Oluransi:** DDDDDEEEEEEXXXXXX  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** MAINE SAVAGE  
 **Larissa Duan:** None of that was clever and I’m embarrassed.   
**Adam J. Birkholtz:** OHHHHHHHHHHHHH  
 **Justin Oluransi:** LLLLAAAAARRRRRDDDDOOOO  
 **Larissa Duan:** stop

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

Nursey wasn’t reading Keats. The book was open in his hands, his eyes shifting across the page in the illusion of reading, but he wasn’t taking in a word. He felt justified, since Dex wasn’t doing his work either. 

At least twice a week they met to work on homework in silence. Today they had chosen Nursey’s room, since Dex’s roommate was working on something involving a lot of wires and a lot of shouting for a project that Nursey hadn’t been listening to the importance of. From his position on his bed he could see the screen of Dex’s laptop, open on his desk. Dex was opening and closing windows, shifting things around occasionally, but faking coding seemed a harder challenge than faking reading. 

“You know, when I’m not actually reading, no one can tell. But you haven’t typed anything in like ten minutes.” 

“You can’t prove that,” Dex fired back, seemingly very focused on drawing circles with his mouse. 

“I can provide notarized sources on demand.” 

“Yeah, but like, are they really notarized, or are they some fraud who never even got certified?” 

“You got me in a corner here.” 

“What do you think of Lola?” 

The change of subject was sudden and jarring, but Nursey was almost used to it with Dex. He thought too fast inside his own head, always at least three steps ahead of what his mouth was saying; the complete opposite of Nursey’s typical approach to almost anything. Dex did it especially, Nursey had found, when the subject at hand was important. Whenever it was something he was trying to force out behind however many layers of self-preservation he had built up around himself. 

That part Nursey found more relatable. 

“Lola’s awesome, man. Why?” 

The thing about Dex was, even when he was looking right at you, it was best not to look at him when he was trying to say something he thought was important. Eye contact, or really any sort of acknowledgment of him at all seemed to make him jumpier. Which worked out fine for Nursey, who didn’t particularly feel like making eye contact through this particular conversation. 

Dex huffed, like Nursey’s answer was the worst possible one. “Yeah, she’s great, but do you think she’s going to be a good manager?” 

The honesty in his tone was what made Nursey glance up. The second he did, Dex shifted to the side. His eyes were glued to Nursey’s poster of Dwight from The Office as he drummed his fingers anxiously along the desk. “I mean, obviously she’s-“ he paused to sigh, like it was causing him pain to say it “-fucking chill or whatever, but do you think she can handle the job? It’s a lot to deal with. The team is a lot to deal with.”

He was tapping out a pattern on the desk now, some song that Nursey couldn’t place. 

“Lardo’s out in May, and Lola is taking over by herself in August. That’s a lot, you know?” Dex told Dwight. “And she’s cool and she seems really smart and not too easily shaken, but that could be a front to get the job, right? Like what if she can’t handle it, or what if she decides to quit? What if we all scare her off? Or-“

“What if you scare her off?” The thinking before speaking issue may have been a more pressing matter than Nursey often liked to convince himself. It wasn’t helping him in the moment, as Dex’s jaw snapped shut and his wide eyes rounded on Nursey. There was a color rising high in his cheeks, and Nursey could tell he was teetering on the edge of angry and embarrassed, unsure which emotion was correct for the situation.

“What?”

Nursey set down his book, reaching over to take a drink from his water bottle. He spilled only minimal drops on himself. “I said,” he continued with a forced grin and a queasy feeling in his stomach, “what if you scare her off? All those google eyes you make at her have to be frightening.” He was in the middle of making binoculars of his fingers to make his eyes look bigger when a pencil hit him in the forehead.

“Fuck you! I do not make ‘google eyes’ at her.” 

It was a chirping victory, as Dex turned back around to open his laptop again, the back of his neck turning pink. It felt a little more like a surrender, for all it confirmed.

“Seriously man, what’s the problem?” He needed to stop talking, needed to let this issue drop. Maybe he could write a poem about it all and forget this ever happened, forget he ever caught feelings for someone who already had them for someone else. That wasn’t how poetry had ever worked, but maybe just this once it would. If he could just stop talking in this moment. 

“My problem with what?” Dex asked, fingers drumming along the desk again. This time there was no rhythm, just an anxious sound that Nursey felt in his chest. 

“Are you actually too distracted by how pretty she is and how much she laughs at your dumb jokes that you can’t judge if she’s a good contender or not? That’s fucked up, man, even if you do like her.” 

“Fuck you!” Dex spat, glancing over his shoulder. Every part Nursey could see of he was tense, like he was ready to throw a punch. Nursey had goaded him plenty over the past two years and had yet to see Dex actually get violent. Maybe it would just take pressing the right buttons though, and Nursey would be seeing stars. 

He doubted it, but poking a dog with its hackles up still didn’t sound like a great idea. 

Nursey stayed quiet, and Dex let out a huff that was closer to a growl at the silence. “You think one hot girl talks to me and I’m gonna fall all over her? How fucking desperate do you think I am?”

“You do think she’s hot though.”

Dex snarled a familiar frustrated sound and closed his laptop again. “Whatever, I’m going back to my dorm.”

“Fine.” 

Nursey picked his book back up as Dex shoved his laptop in his bag. He pretended to read the entire time Dex cursed at his own belongings, crumpling papers to move out of the way as he collected his things. For good measure Nursey flipped a page as Dex pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder and headed towards the door. 

The second the door slammed behind him Nursey tossed the book to the side. He heard it hit the floor but didn’t pay attention to where it went as he threw himself into the nearest pillow and screamed. 

Poetry and yoga and breathing techniques were all well and good, as every therapist he had ever been to would vouch for, but nothing ever quite beat screaming. 

Screaming added a certain level of physical drama, which always left Nursey feeling slightly more valid about his internal drama. It only lasted for a few seconds however, before Hulu seemed like a more viable option than losing his voice for the next day. 

He was halfway through his second episode of Broad City when he got the text. 

**William J. Poindexter:** sorry  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** Don’t sweat your beautiful ginger head  
 **William J. Poindexter:** nevermind  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** Seriously, Lola’s gonna be great. Lardo picked her. Lardo is never wrong.   
**William J. Poindexter:** She said you couldn’t eat that whole bowl of raw lemons that one time.  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** Shit you’re right.  
 **William J. Poindexter:** I’m just saying.   
**Derek M. Nurse:** Okay, Lardo is USUALLY not wrong  
 **William J. Poindexter:** I’ll accept it  
 **William J. Poindexter:** Thanks man  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** No problem. 

Derek took two deep breaths, fingers hovered over the mousepad to hit play one more time. 

Maybe he should try some of the yoga poses Bitty had taught him. Or maybe he should walk down to the late-night dining hall and get something sweet to drink. One of those would have calmed him down. 

He screamed into the pillow again. 

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**Larissa Duan:** I’m adding Lola to the main chat  
 **Eric R. Bittle:** Y’all BEHAVE.  
 **Justin Oluransi:** Are you sure we are ready for that?   
**Derek M. Nurse:** That’s a lot of responsibility  
 **Eric R. Bittle:** Be appropriate and welcoming and don’t say anything disgusting  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** At least not right away. We gotta ease her in.

**Lola Rodriguez has been added to the chat**

**K. Whisken:** Blow job  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** …what  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** FUCK DAMN IT WHISKEY  
 **Antony Pherigo:** WHICKEY NO  
 **Justin Oluransi:** YOU HAD ONE JOB  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** Did I interrupt something  
 **Chris Chow:** NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** That’s it hockey is Over.   
**Derek M. Nurse:** It’s cancelled   
**Pacer Wicks:** We had a good run  
 **Larissa Duan:** Oh my god  
 **Eric R. Bittle:** Lola ignore Whiskey, everyone does.  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** This feels Right  
 **William J. Poindexter:** Are we all just ignoring ‘Whickey’ from Tango?

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

“So, Nursey.” From the other end of the bench, Lola dug her boots into the ground and pushed, sliding herself down towards him in a move that would have landed him in the hospital. 

“So, Lola.” 

“I feel like you and I haven’t really talked much.” She crossed one leg over the other, lacing her fingers together over her knee. Her eyes were on the ice, following the couples and families slipping and sliding in their attempts to ice skate. Nursey wasn’t fooled, her attention was fixed on him. 

“There’s 23 guys on the team,” he told her with a grin, trying not to let the tension rise in his shoulders. She knew. Okay, she probably didn’t know, but she knew something was up. 

When she finally looked at him Nursey felt his stomach roll and it had nothing to do with fear of being discovered. It was guilt. Lola was fierce, if he had to define her in one word. She always seemed just on the edge of winning a fight, even when she was sitting by herself. There was a confidence there that wasn’t faked or forced, she was who she was and everyone else had to deal with that or get out of the way. When she looked at him though, the anxiety in her eyes wasn’t hidden. 

“Did I do something wrong, man? Like, I can take criticism. I’m new here. I managed the men’s soccer team at my high school-“

“Yeah, Lardo told me. State champs right?”

“Right.” Lola frowned, obviously thrown off at Nursey’s weak attempt to change the subject. “So, uh, okay I managed them, but you guys aren’t those guys, this isn’t high school, and it’s not soccer.” She laid her hands out in the air, like she was putting all her cards down. Nursey didn’t remember noticing her nail color change, but they were purple now, though somehow just as chipped as the first time he met her. 

Nursey shrugged. “Not that different. Same basic concepts. More cold. More padding. More fights.” 

Lola nodded, her heavy braid bouncing. “Right, but this isn’t about that. It’s about you.” 

She was pretty bold, Nursey privately admitted. Calling out a guy she barely knew for giving her the cold shoulder took more guts than he had. He hadn’t even have been that bad, at least he thought. He hadn’t even frowned at her that he could remember. That same feeling of guilt crept back up on him. Regardless of how bad he hadn’t been, that didn’t really excuse his behavior. 

“If I did something wrong, or if I’m rubbing anyone the wrong way, I want to know before I fully take over here.” 

Nursey sighed. Out on the ice a guy in a pea coat fell. The girl with him laughed. When Nursey opened his mouth, no sound came out for almost a full minute. Beside him Lola was still, her palms laid flat on the cold bench. 

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. His breath rose in front of him, and he followed the cloud instead of looking at her. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re super fucking cool, and we are taking Ransom and Holster _down_ at flip cup next Kegster.” 

When Lola laughed she tilted her head back, her long neck exposed. She really was gorgeous, and maybe Nursey could have appreciated that more had he not been so caught up in who else found her so appealing. 

“It’s uh…” Nursey shrugged, anxiety biting at the back of his chest as he tried to stay calm. “I’ve got my own shit, you know?” 

She didn’t know, which was instantly apparent as she met his eye, but he didn’t find any hostility there either. “What does it have to do with me?”

Nursey blew a breath out through his teeth, his thumb tracing patterns on his jeans. “It’s…It doesn’t. I’m sorry.” He hadn’t meant to, but he felt like he was pleading now, begging her to both forgive him and let it drop. “I’m fine. I’ll…quit being a fucking dick.” 

The sound of metal cutting through ice had always calmed him down, even undercut with the sounds of laughter and the occasional shout of fear. If he closed his eyes he thought he might be back in New York, at his old skating rink, waiting for the rest of the Andover team to finish lacing up. 

“Is this about Dex?” 

It was like the needle being taken off a record, the background noise instantly gone and the sudden silence pressing in on Nursey was deafening. He met Lola’s eye with every bit as much ferocity as she threw at him, the world tunneling down to the two of them.

“What?”

Lola planted her feet, bright eyes narrowed. “That’s it, isn’t it? It’s because we-because he flirts with me.”

“We’ what?” 

“What?”

“You said ‘we’,” Nursey pressed. It was too hot in the ice rink, he decided. He might have considered taking off his coat, if he could focus on anything other than the immediate conversation he was having. “’We’ what?”

Lola’s challenging expression didn’t shift, but her cheeks puckered, like she was biting them. “We get along.” She decided after a long moment of deliberation. “And you think it’s too well.” 

Nursey didn’t growl, that wasn’t a thing he did. Dex did things like that. So Nursey definitely did not growl as he broke their staring contest. He turned back to the ice, but could barely make out individual skaters anymore. He couldn’t focus on anything except Lola’s voice. “It’s not…that.” 

Lola shifted, and Nursey thought she might have been facing the ice as well, but he didn’t check. “I get it.” Nursey doubted she did, and it sounded like she was biting the words out. “I’m brand new, I didn’t even start yet, and you think I’m trying to get in your best friend’s pants.” 

“That’s not-“

“This job is important to me. I know I don’t officially have it, but I’m taking this seriously.”

“I know, I-“

“I’m not going to throw away a great opportunity to bang a hot guy.” 

“You think he’s hot?” How the ice wasn’t melting under the sweltering heat of the rink, Nursey had no idea. How he had made it this far in his life with how loose his control over his tongue was, he also had no idea. 

Lola’s skin was almost as dark as his, and her blush was hard to distinguish, but she looked just as uncomfortable as he did in the oppressive sauna that the rink had become. Her tongue poked out between her lips, and Nursey wondered if that was something she did when she was nervous. “What are you worried about?” She asked instead of answering. 

Part of Nursey wanted to call her out for trying to change the subject, but that was the part that talked more than he thought, and for once he kept it quiet. “Honestly, like are you afraid of me hurting your friend, or are you worried about me quitting if something goes wrong?”

‘I’m worried about how I’m going to ever sleep again if I have to watch him kiss you,’ was the sentence on the tip of his tongue but he swallowed it down. He adjusted his beanie for something to with his hands. “Both.” Was what he said out loud. 

Lola was silent for a moment, and somehow he still got the distinct impression she did not believe him. 

“If it’s not about me, and you promise to stop being so weird-“

“I promise, I swear.”

“-then maybe you should talk to Dex.”

Nursey sighed. It had to be getting close to 9, he had to get to his late seminar. “You don’t ‘talk’ to Dex,” he informed her. “He doesn’t really, uh…listen. He just kind of does his own thing and everyone else deals with it.” 

Lola hummed a noncommittal sound as Nursey leaned down to gather his bag. He stood up as he threw it over his shoulder, planning on making a hasty exit from this uncomfortable conversation. 

“You know what’s funny?” Lola asked before Nursey could make a generic goodbye. 

“What?” He stepped over the bench, leaving her sitting on it alone.

“He said the exact same thing about you.”

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**Antony Pherigo:** So is Lola also manager right now? Do we have two?  
 **Antony Pherigo:** Or is she only manager once Lardo graduates?   
**Antony Pherigo:** Like, does she take over the day of graduation.   
**Adam J. Birkholtz:** Tango we’re trying to get ready for tonight can you chill for a minute.   
**Larissa Duan:** She’s manager in training. I’m still manager, but you have to listen to her.  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** I’m your step-manager.   
**Lola Rodriguez:** I’m not going to fill the Lardo hole exactly, but I’m gonna do my best  
 **Antony Pherigo:** Okay so I call Lola over the summer if I have a question  
 **Pacer Wicks:** Lardo Hole is the new group name  
 **Larissa Duan:** Finally  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** Good.   
**Lola Rodriguez:** What kind of question would you have over the summer?  
 **K. Whisken:** Don’t ask questions if you’re not ready for the answers.

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

Nursey might have slept in a little too late. 

In his defense, he had gotten way too drunk the previous night. He didn’t really have much of a defense for that, but he stood by his choices. 

Regardless, he felt it fully unfair how rude his wakeup call was.

“NURSEY!” 

It took Nursey a full minute to untangle himself from the mountain of blankets he had cocooned himself in before passing out the previous night. It took another minute to establish who was screaming at him and banging on his door. 

“Dex, this is the actual least chill you have ever been,” Nursey informed him, not really caring how early he began that sentence before opening the door. It didn’t seem to matter, as before he could even properly open the door, Dex was throwing himself in Nursey’s face. 

“What the fuck is your problem?” 

Nursey blinked, the sleep clouding his mind dissipating in an instant. “What?”

Dex whipped something out of his jacket pocket, brandishing like a knife and forcing Nursey a step back. It took a beat for Nursey to recognize it as Dex’s phone. “This,” Dex spat. His ears were a flaming red, eyes wide and something wild about them. If Nursey wasn’t so confused, he might have found it attractive. 

God, he had weird kinks. 

“Did I break your phone? Look man, I’ll pay for whatever-“

“YOU DIDN’T BREAK SHIT!” 

Nursey raised his hands in surrender, backing away from his fuming friend to close the door. Across the hall, Jeremy was staring, looking mildly concerned. Nursey gave him a small salute before closing the door. 

“Look man, I don’t remember shit about last night after Ransom and Holster made the castle of solo cups.”

“FUCK YOU!” 

“Whoa.” Nursey leaned back, the back of his head knocking against the door as he observed Dex’s growing rage with caution. 

Maybe rage was the wrong word, Nursey thought. Dex looked…anxious. His freckles were almost gone, displaced among the angry red splotches that were covering his cheeks. Whether Dex wanted to admit it or not, he was meticulous about his hair. It was always cut to the exact same length and kept neat. Now it was sticking up in different patches, like he had been running his hands through it. Nursey wouldn’t have believed it had he not seen it, but Dex had missed a button on his flannel. 

“How can you not remember anything, how can you-“ He broke off, gesturing wildly with and at his phone, like it was all supposed to mean something to Nursey. 

“Dude, it’s way too early, you’re gonna have to clarify here.”

“It’s fucking 2 in the afternoon.”

“That changes nothing.” 

Dex got caught somewhere between a snarl and a scream, tilting his head back and raking one hand through his hair. When he let go, it stood straight up and Nursey, though still on the edge of mounting unease, wasn’t sure he had ever seen anything more endearing. 

Nursey watched as Dex tried three separate times to collect his thoughts, his breath coming in short aggravated exhales whenever he changed gears. “Where the hell do you get off?”

“Wherever you want me to,” Nursey shot back, half on instinct and half to try to soften to mood. It did not work. 

Dex turned somehow redder, the blotches on his face filling in crimson and his eyes widening to the point Nursey thought they might fall out. 

“You fucking bitch, you _do_ remember!” 

Nursey blinked, brow creasing for a moment as he tried to catch up. “Wait what?”

“The message you left me last night.” Dex held up his phone one more time, and finally things started to click into place. 

He had called Dex at some point after the solo cup castle. He had drunk dialed Dex. He had drunk dialed Dex and left a message, and Dex was pissed. 

Nursey felt the bottom of his stomach drop out as the world tilted sideways. 

As the edges of his vision started to go fuzzy and his tongue turned to cotton he crossed his arms, his small smirk the last piece of armor he had left as he regarded Dex with a bored expression. “I drunk dialed you.”

“Yeah. I fucking guess you did.” 

Nursey liked to pride himself on his ability to hide any and all emotions behind whatever façade of casual disinterest he felt the situation called for. It was part of what made him Nursey, he liked to think. The thing about calling someone your best friend however, meant that facades were never quite as opaque to them as the rest of the world. Dex didn’t lower his shoulders or come any closer, but when he looked away he looked more nervous than angry, and Nursey could see where his teeth were worrying a mark into his bottom lip. 

“Did you mean it?” It was somewhere between a threat of violence and the softest Nursey had ever heard Dex, and he had no idea how he managed it. Maybe it was something about growing up working with your hands, surrounded by other men who had done the same. That tainted sort of vulnerability that could never come without a reminder that it didn’t come easy. 

Nursey had never wanted to hold him more. 

“I don’t know,” Nursey told him honestly, his voice carefully controlled. Now he knew he was succeeding, because for as well as Dex could read him, he could return the favor. Unease was radiating off of Dex as he shifted from foot to foot. He didn’t like not understanding every aspect of a situation, didn’t like any unpredictability, and maybe Nursey felt bad, but he wasn’t about to give up all of his own guarded fears just to appease Dex. “I don’t know what I said.” 

Dex sighed, one hand coming up to brush his thumb over the spot his teeth had been making in his lip. Nursey’s eyes followed the movement and when he forced his gaze back up, he found Dex staring right back. Fear wasn’t an emotion Dex showed easily, but for just a second it was raw. When he blinked it was gone, that hard glint back in Dex’s eyes. 

“How do you get so fucking drunk that you can’t remember anything?” 

“What did I say?”

“You really don’t remember anything?” Dex’s voice was strong and steady, but his phone was trembling in his hand. 

Nursey had to remind himself how to breath. “No, I don’t.”

Dex narrowed his eyes, suspicion high in his features as he regarded Nursey for an incredibly tense minute. “Then you didn’t mean it.” He decided after a moment. The side of his cheek twitched and even as his scowl deepened he wouldn’t meet Nursey’s eye. “Don’t fucking call me again.” He made a move, like he was about to push forward, but Nursey didn’t move. 

“Didn’t mean what?”

“You were too fucking drunk, you just rambled like an asshole into my phone.” 

Dex reached around Nursey, trying to grab the doorknob, but Nursey blocked him. He tried to grab Dex’s arm, but Dex pulled back like he was burned. 

“Dude, fucking let me out.” 

“What did I say?”

“It doesn’t matter what you fucking said.”

Nursey wasn’t considering the consequences. He wasn’t thinking it through. He just had to let this go, he had to let Dex leave and they could both forget this ever happened. 

“Drunk words are sober thoughts,” he blurted out instead. Planning ahead be damned, he was on the heels of something important and he wasn’t about to let something as inconsequential as monumental heartbreak and crushing embarrassment get in the way. 

“The last time you were drunk you told me you felt truly in your heart that you were at one time a clam in a past life.” 

Nursey blinked. “I have absolutely had that thought sober.” 

Dex snorted, but didn’t try to go anywhere.

Nursey could remember dialing, now that he pressed the memory. He could remember stumbling back into his room. Someone had helped him but he couldn’t remember who. He had striped down to his boxers and crawled under the covers and then he had called Dex. 

Embarrassment was burning through him like a virus, making his skin prickle and his head spin, but he couldn’t just leave it. 

“Dex, what did I say last night?” 

Dex was shifting so much, clenching his hands at his sides and moving from foot to foot that Nursey almost expected him to just start turning in circles. His eyes were trained on the floor. On the wall. On the desk. Anywhere but Nursey. 

“I’m not sleeping with Lola. You…mentioned it like it was a sure thing, like we were d-dating or something and we’re not. You…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “It’s not like that. She’s great but she wouldn’t-I mean, but I didn’t think, b-but you were drunk and-“ 

Dex was fumbling, the stutter he worked so hard to hide finding its place among his scattered thoughts. Nursey wanted to reach out for him, wanted to rub his shoulders and remind him to breath, but he knew Dex better than to try. 

With his eyes squeezed shut, Dex pinched the bridge of his nose. Once when they had gotten high, Dex had told him it was what he did to try to restart himself when he got caught in his own loop. Like he was a machine that needed to be turned off and on again. 

Dex exhaled and Nursey couldn’t breath. “You told me that you hoped Lola and I were happy, and that you saw that she made me happy, and if she made me a quarter as happy as I make you, then we must really have something special.” 

Nursey slumped back against the door, what little breath he had left was knocked out of his lungs like a punch. 

It was like a train wreck, as Dex continued, because Nursey wanted him to stop. He couldn’t listen to this. It had been a mistake, but it was too late to stop it with no air left to say anything. 

“You said, _fuck_ , you said you hoped she counted the freckles on my chest, and that she stroked my hair when I had n-nightmares, and-“ Dex swallowed hard, crossing his arms tight across his chest as he tried to hold himself still, “-that she kissed my hands when I got t-too upset and they started to shake and you said you hoped she told me…that she told me-told me, _fuck!_ ” He broke off, throwing his hands up in surrender as he gave up on that thought. 

Nursey was stock-still, the opposite of Dex’s continued fidgeting. When Dex pulled his hands down over his face, he finally met Nursey’s gaze. 

“You said, you hoped she did that, because if you couldn’t do it, then someone should.” 

Nursey was moving through water. Maybe this was what shock felt like. Or maybe this was what the worst kind of concussion felt like, maybe Dex wasn’t even here and he was just hallucinating this entire thing. 

“Gay.” Was what eventually came out of his mouth when he figured out how to make words again. Why that was the word he landed on, he would never be fully certain. 

Something about it seemed to snap Dex back into himself, his nerves easing up a moment as he scowled at Nursey. “Yeah, that was kind of the abridged and edited version, that’s just the tip of the gay iceberg you left me last night.” 

Nursey stared at him for another moment. “…Gaycberg.” 

“Oh my god.” 

“I’m sorry,” Nursey told him with a shrug that felt much more mechanical than he intended. He wasn’t fully sure if he was apologizing for the terrible joke or for the drunken declaration of love, but either way it felt appropriate. 

“Don’t fucking apologize,” Dex snapped. His voice was loud but it was forced, missing all malice. “Did you fucking mean it or didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” _Balls to the fucking wall man_ , a voice that sounded suspiciously like Holster was whispering in his head, pressing him forward. He could barely think, couldn’t make sense of all of his thoughts as they all jammed for space and ended up clashing together in what just amounted to white noise. He couldn’t process any of it, and all he needed to do was get it out. “I meant it.” 

Deer caught in the headlights didn’t begin to cover the wide-eyed stare Dex was facing him down with. His mouth was partially open, the angry red on his cheeks faded to a pale blush and his hair more disheveled than Nursey could ever remember seeing it. 

“I meant it,” Nursey repeated, a little stronger this time. He pushed away from the door and took a hesitant step towards Dex. “I’m sorry if that freaks you out, and I’m sorry for the way I told you, but I’m not sorry that I feel it.” 

Dex swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing when Nursey took another step. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

 

Dex took a step forward when he nodded, eyes back on the wall over Nursey’s shoulder. “Yeah.” 

“Yeah?” Later, when Nursey tried to recall the moment for posterity’s sake, he would edit their dialogue to himself. Would remember it with more prose and confessions than their parroted exchange really entailed. He would fill in the blanks with poetry that he would be absolutely certain he had said. 

Dex stepped in to meet him, long fingers curling around his side and the tip of his nose bumping against his. When Nursey laid his hand along Dex’s pale neck and could feel his heartbeat, hammering out a war beat beneath his skin, he found he didn’t much care about what poetry went unsaid. 

“Yeah.” When Dex breathed the word, Nursey felt his breath on his skin. 

There would later be a forever unresolved fight about who exactly leaned in first. 

Their first kiss was softer than either would have ever anticipated. Barely more than a brush of their lips as their noses bumped and fingers tightened against skin. When they broke apart, Dex rested his forehead against Nursey’s. 

“What about Lola?” Nursey hadn’t meant to ask it, not really, but anxiety didn’t often let him decide what he did and did not get to say. 

Dex huffed, a sound that might have sounded angry had his fingers not been so soft where they teased the skin under Nursey’s tee shirt. “Lola’s amazing. She’s gonna be a kick-ass manager, and I’m going to bitch to her every fucking day about you next year.” His eyes flickered up and Nursey felt himself going a little cross-eyed trying to watch the movement. “She’s great but you’re…” When he swallowed, he was close enough that Nursey could hear the sound.

Nursey grinned, a genuine smile for the first time since Dex had barged into his room. It only grew as he watched Dex’s eyes narrow in suspicion. 

“You like me,” he accused. 

“You have no proof of that,” Dex shot back, fingers still stroking his skin. 

“But you _do-o_ ,” Nursey sang, using his leverage on Dex to rock them gently back and forth. 

“Stop it.”

“You’re a big gay nerd who likes me and wants to kiss me.”

“Fucking shit, not any more.”

Dex struggled in his light grasp, a weak attempt at escape that Nursey quickly countered by holding on tighter. 

“Fuck, I’ve made a terrible mistake.” 

“Yeah you did.” Nursey snaked one arm around Dex’s back, pulling them even closer together as he buried his face in crook of Dex’s neck. “Chose me over the gorgeous team manager. Fucking dumbass.” 

Dex’s nose was cold when it brushed Nursey’s ear, but his lips were warm when they brushed against his cheek. “Yeah, that’s me. Fucking dumbass.” 

**_X_ _X_ _X_**

**Adam J. Birkholtz:** YOOOOOO Fucking chicken nugget city in the dining hall   
**Justin Oluransi:** Head count so we know how many tables to take over  
 **Chris Chow:** save me a seat!!!!  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** I’m already here.   
**Oliver O’Meara:** Already made many nugget related mistakes  
 **Pacer Wicks:** Rest in fucking (nugget) pieces  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** I’m excited to watch this go down  
 **Larissa Duan:** You should be  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** It’s a rite of passage   
**Jack L. Zimmermann:** Good luck Lola.   
**Antony Pherigo:** Whiskey and I are on our way!  
 **Eric R. Bittle:** Dex, Nursey, are you guys coming?  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** NURSEY. I bet I can eat more nuggets than you  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** Nursey’s gonna throw up in the dining hall  
 **Justin Oluransi:** An accurate prediction  
 **Adam J. Birkholtz:** NURSEY.   
**Adam J. Birkholtz:** NUUUURRRSSSEEEYYYYY  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** Sorry I was working on a paper.   
**Derek M. Nurse:** I can’t make it. Just gonna keep working through it.  
 **William J. Poindexter:** Yeah, and I have to finish this chem lab by tomorrow  
 **Oliver O’Meara:** nerds  
 **Eric R. Bittle:** Oh no! Do you want me to bring you anything?  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** Don’t sweat it Bits, I’ll survive  
 **William J. Poindexter:** No thanks.  
 **Lola Rodriguez:** Aw. Well. see you guys tomorrow. Have fun with your homework.  
 **Derek M. Nurse:** I intend to.

**Author's Note:**

> I DID THE WORST THING I INVENTED A CHARACTER OOPS. I hope she wasn't too terrible. I kind of like her. Also I hope you all enjoyed the made up names for the Tadpoles, which I will edit one day when we actually know what they are. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope this was what you wanted for the swawesome santa, and I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Come talk to me on [tumblr.](http://dexondefense.tumblr.com/)


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